Borscht is a healthy, nutritious, and comforting soup for the colder season. It’s a traditional beet soup from Ukraine and is loved all over most Eastern European counties. This rich and delicious soup is made with cabbage, beef, and many other vegetables. Beets give this borscht a beautiful color and a beautiful flavor.
This winter, enjoy more classic soup recipes like Broccoli Cheese Soup and Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.
Table of Contents
This cabbage soup is a staple in every Ukrainian and Russian household. It’s what I grew up eating, and it’s one of the first recipes that I learned how to make. It was definitely one of the very first recipes that I learned!
Being a total potato lover, learning how to make potato recipes was a priority to me. I dove into soups right after that.
I’ve been making this soup for over 20 years now and it comes out slightly different each time. The reason for that is simple – it’s because you can play around with using different veggies! Sometimes, I add mushrooms, sometimes I make it slightly healthier and leave out the potatoes.
Either way I make it, cabbage and beets are always the stars and it’s always perfectly comforting and delicious.
What is Borscht Soup?
Borscht soup is a traditional Ukrainian soup made with beef, cabbage, beets, and other vegetables. It’s known for the beautiful ruby-red color that comes from adding beets.
The main ingredients that always go into borscht soup are cabbage, beets, and beef. You can change up some other veggies that you put into it. Mushrooms and potatoes could be left out if you wish or just don’t like mushrooms. Try adding leek and parsnips to your soup.
There are a tons of other variations of borscht from different regions of Eastern European countries. One is white borscht that has no beets. White borscht has a lot more of a cabbage taste and is a little more on a sour side.
Another popular version of borscht is one that is made with sorrel and no beets. Sorrel is a sour herb and it looks somewhat similar to spinach. I adore sorrel and its juicy, sour taste. It gives a great taste to soups. Unfortunately, it’s not a popular herb where I live so it’s extremely hard to find.
Yet another popular version of Borsch is served cold. This soup is completely vegetarian and can be served warm or cold. It has a vegetable only base, no meat at all. (I don’t recommend trying to serve beef based Borscht cold because cold pieces of meat fat will not be pleasant.)
Ingredient Notes
Beef – Use “stew beef,” also known as chuck roast. It’s inexpensive, tough, and has lots of marbling and connective tissue. Not a cut that you want to cook quickly, but it’s perfect for slow cooking and very flavorful. You can buy a whole piece and cut it yourself or get a package that’s pre-cut into about 1-inch chunks.
Marrow Bones – Marrow bones will provide nutrients and richness to the beef broth. I highly recommend that you use them. Make sure to discard them once the stock is cooked.
Whole Peppercorns and Coriander – Make sure to use whole, not ground spices. If you don’t want to deal with straining and picking the whole spices out of the meat and stock later, you can always tie the spices in cheesecloth so you can easily discard it after.
Cabbage – Use green cabbage that is small to medium in size. If you could only get a large cabbage, use what you need for soup and you can use the leftovers to quickly make Fried Cabbage or Colcannon.
Potatoes – Idaho potatoes, also known as russet or baking potatoes, are the best ones to use because they cook soft and fluffy.
Tomato Paste – Make sure to use tomato paste and not tomato sauce. Tomato paste is more concentrated, thicker and richer.
Garlic – Use fresh for the best flavor, not pre-minced garlic for the best flavor.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
How to Make Borscht Soup
Make the Beef Stock
PRO TIP: If you don’t want to deal with straining and picking the whole spices out of the meat and stock later, you can always tie the spices in cheesecloth so you can easily discard it after.
Sear meat: Place a pot over medium-high heat and add oil. If there are any big, hard chunks of fat on the beef, cut them off. Add the beef and marrow bones to the pot and sear for a few minutes. (1)
Bring to Simmer: Pour the water into the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the bay leaves, coriander and peppercorns, then lower the heat to low. (2)
Cook: Loosely cover the pot with a lid so that steam can escape. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. (3)
Add the beets: About halfway through cooking, add the beets to the pot. (4) Cook until done, then take out and set aside.
Strain. Strain the stock. Discard the bones, herbs, and seasonings. Set the meat aside.
Make the Soup
Prepare the veggies: Slice onions, mushrooms, and cabbage thinly. Grate carrots on a large grater and cube the potatoes. Peel the garlic and set aside. Set the cooked beets aside to cool.
Sauté: Using the same pot you made the stock in, set the heat to medium and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. Sauté the onions and carrots until softened (5), then add the minced garlic to the pot and stir. (6)
Add more veggies. Add the potatoes and mushrooms (7). Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cabbage, stir and cook until cabbage softens (8).
Add tomato paste and seasonings: Add the tomato paste, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir well until tomato paste is evenly mixed.
Add beef and stock: Break apart the beef and add it to the pot (9). Stir and start pouring in the stock (10). Add enough stock to completely cover the veggies.
Cook again. Cook the soup over medium heat for about 25-30 minutes (11). Stir occasionally. Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper.
Finish it off. Stir in dill weed. Peel beets and grate them into the soup on a large cheese grater (12). Give it a good stir before serving.
PRO TIP: Don’t forget to garnish with sour cream and fresh dill weed for the most authentic experience.
Make Ahead Suggestions
Borscht requires two steps to make: first you need to make the beef broth and cook the beets, then composing the actual soup. You can always break down this process into two days!
One day, you can prepare the beef broth and cook the beets. Make sure to store the meat with broth and the beets in separate containers! Take the beets out of the broth once cooked and store them in another food storage container, in the refrigerator. Store the meat and broth in the refrigerator as well. Then the next day, you can make the soup according to the recipe and it will take less than an hour.
Storing and Reheating
You can easily store the soup in the same pot you used to make it as long as it has a fitted lid. Store leftover borscht in the refrigerator, covered airtight. Properly stored, it will last for up to 5 days. Remember to always use a clean ladle when taking out individual portions to reheat.
To reheat it, you can easily reheat the whole pot or portions in a smaller pot on the stove-top over medium-low heat. Heat through just until reheated and stir often to distribute the heat. You can also use a microwave for faster reheating.
You can also freeze half or all of the soup for later. Make sure to cool the soup completely before freezing. Portion it into individual freezer friendly containers or zip-top bags, or store it all together in a large container. Let as much air out as you can, seal, label, and freeze for up to 2 months. Make sure to thaw borscht slowly in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
PRO TIP: Note that potatoes do tend to break down more when frozen and thawed, so the texture will change slightly.
Recipe FAQs
Borscht is a staple across many Eastern European countries, and each one has their own variation and a way to serve it. You can serve it cold or hot, but note that if the soup is made with meat, I highly recommend you serve it warmed. Meat fat is not pleasant to eat in a cold form. Another traditional addition to borscht is a dollop of sour cream to make it creamy and a sprinkle of fresh dill weed. Try adding sliced hard boiled eggs to each bowl as you serve the soup. Serve it with some bread on the side or freshly baked Dinner Rolls.
There are a couple of tricks you can do to keep the signature bright color of the soup. The first one is never to add raw grated beets to the soup. They have to be cooked whole and in skin first. If you try to peel, grate and add uncooked beets to the soup, they will lose their color very quickly. Make sure to add the beets, whole and not peeled, to the pot as you are cooking the stock. Once the beets are fully cooked through, they are super easy to peel and you can grate them and add to the soup at the end. Make sure to add them at the very end of cooking.
Another trick to keep the color of the beets is also to stir in about a tablespoon of vinegar into the soup right after you add the beets. The acidity will help preserve the color as well.
If you’ve worked with beets before, you know that they are messy and stain easily. Make sure to wear food-safe gloves if you’re worried about hands staining. The only tool you will need to work with needs in this recipe is a large cheese grater. It won’t stain the grater because it’s metal, but be careful what you will grate the beets into. Plastic and wood cutting boards will stain easily, so if you care about how they look, use a ceramic plate for the easiest clean up.
More Soup Recipes We Love
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
The BEST Borscht Recipe
Ingredients
Beef stock:
- 2 lbs stew beef
- 1 lb beef bones (marrow bones) optional
- 2.5 quarts water
- 2 large bay leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1/2 tbsp whole peppercorns
Soup:
- 3 medium beets about 1.5 lbs
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 head of cabbage
- 2 medium Idaho potatoes
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp fresh dill weed minced
Topping:
- Sour cream
- Fresh minced dill weed
Instructions
Beef Stock:
- Preheat the pot over medium-high heat. Add a little bit of canola oil.
- Cut big, hard chunks of fat off beef, if any. Add beef and bones to the pot and seat for a couple of minutes.
- Add water to the pot and bring it to simmer.
- Add bay leaves, coriander, and whole peppercorns. Lower the heat to low.
- Loosely cover with a lid (so that there is a good amount of room for steam to escape) and cook for 2-4 hours.
- About half way through of cooking meat, add whole, unpeeled beets to the pot. Cook until done, take out and set aside.
- Strain off the stock and discard bones, bay leaves, coriander, and peppercorns. Set meat and beef aside.
Borscht soup:
- Prepare your veggies: slice onions, mushrooms, and cabbage thinly. Grate carrots on a large grater, and cube potatoes. Peel garlic and set aside. Set whole cooked beets aside to cool.
- Using the same pot, set the heat to medium and add a couple of tablespoons of canola oil to the pot.
- Add onions and carrots and saute until softened. Smash garlic, mince and add to the pot. Stir well.
- Add potatoes and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add cabbage, stir and cook until cabbage softens.
- Add tomato paste, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir well until tomato paste is evenly mixed.
- Break apart beef and add it to the pot. Stir and start adding stock. Add enough stock to completely cover the veggies. (You can add more if you want more broth.)
- Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. Adjust to taste.
- Stir in dill weed.
- Peel beets and grate them into the soup on a large cheese grater. Stir and your soup is ready to eat!
- Garnish with some sour cream and fresh dill weed.
Video
Notes
- Tie Spices For Broth: If you don’t want to deal with straining and picking the whole spices out of the meat and stock later, you can always tie the spices in cheesecloth so you can easily discard it after.
- Storing: You can easily store the soup in the same pot you used to make it as long as it has a fitted lid. Store leftover borscht in the refrigerator, covered airtight. Properly stored, it will last for up to 5 days. Remember to always use a clean ladle when taking out individual portions to reheat.
- To reheat: you can easily reheat the whole pot or portions in a smaller pot on the stove-top over medium-low heat. Heat through just until reheated and stir often to distribute the heat. You can also use a microwave for faster reheating.
- You can also freeze half or all of the soup for later. Make sure to cool the soup completely before freezing. Portion it into individual freezer friendly containers or zip-top bags, or store it all together in a large container. Let as much air out as you can, seal, label, and freeze for up to 2 months. Make sure to thaw borscht slowly in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in March 2012.
Matrix says
I made it with sweet Italian sausage as the meat. Out of this world good!
LyubaB says
Nice! So glad you liked it!
ashley says
Wow sounds incredible! I’ve been getting lots of beets in my organic vegetable deliveries and have been looking for new recipes, making this for our Christmas dinner tomorrow! Thanks for sharing
LyubaB says
I hope everyone liked it!
ashley says
Sounds delicious! I’ve been getting lots of beets in my organic vegetable deliveries and have been looking for new recipes, making this for our Christmas dinner tomorrow! Thanks for sharing
Will says
This classic Borscht recipe is healthy, nutritious, and comforting soup for colder season.
Brendon says
The way you present it is great. Very beautiful image. I’ve made this multiple times and I love it!
Amazing recipe! very flavorful. Thank you for sharing!
Michael says
I have just cooked Borscht according to your recipe. It’s very good. Thanks you!
LyubaB says
Hi Michael,
I am so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know!
april says
love love love! we recently went to russia and were lucky enough to have it there. can’t wait to make it at home too!
LyubaB says
Hi, April! I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! 🙂
Alida says
I have had borsch soup once . I loved it, the folks who made it ( don’t laugh) used beaver meat, tasted like beef. But the soup was amazing. I’m planning on using your receipe soon. I love using fresh ingredients so I better go shopping. Thank you so much
Tetiana says
Stop naming Ukrainian traditional dish as a russian! Here is a big difference between those two countries. If U used to call it russian it doesn’t mean that it’s russian
John says
The first mention of borscht was among the ancient Romans.
Cabbage and beets were brought to the Slavs, since they are not native to eastern Europe!
Therefore, the assertion that borsch is a “Ukrainian dish” can be considered if not a figment of imagination, then it’s already an inappropriate joke as old as the world.
And, that is pity to see how political abnormalities are sowing discord to the extent of their bad education )))